Municipal officials across the state reacted with dismay and anger Friday to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposal to slash or shift tens of millions of dollars in state school aid because of the legislature’s failure to enact a new state budget.

“My real hope is that this announcement is the governor’s way of saber rattling to get the legislature on board and adopt a budget before much more time goes by,” Canton First Selectman Leslee Hill said.

Malloy’s latest plan would eliminate state Educational Cost Sharing payments to 85 of Connecticut’s more affluent municipalities, including Glastonbury and West Hartford. School aid grants to another 54 communities would be reduced. Major cities and poorer towns would continue to receive education grants at the same level as in the fiscal year that ended on June 30.

A number of school officials from less-affluent communities expressed relief Friday that Malloy’s plan would allow state education aid to their cities and towns to remain at last year’s levels.

Legislative leaders have been struggling to come up with a budget to deal with a projected two-year, $3.5 billion deficit. Their latest plan calls for the General Assembly to vote on a new budget during the week of Sept. 11, but lawmakers have already repeatedly missed budget-related deadlines.

School districts had been expecting to receive their first installment of state education aid in mid-September, and more in October. Malloy’s administration is now saying that, under the new plan, 25 percent of annual ECS payments will be made in October.

Malloy announced the new plan Friday, saying the school funding cuts were necessary because of the lack of a state budget for the current fiscal year. The proposed reductions are even deeper than an earlier plan offered by Malloy in June. His new executive order cuts total education cost sharing grants to $1.46 billion – a reduction of $51 million compared to the order issued in June.

The governor also goes even further in his controversial plan to shift funds from the wealthy districts to the 30 struggling districts with the highest needs known as the Alliance Districts. In the June executive order, most of the Alliance Districts were cut, but in the plan released Friday those districts were slated to receive the same amount they got last year.

For instance, West Hartford, which received $21 million last year and was slated to get $4.3 million under the June executive order, would get zero funding under the plan issued Friday.

“If the governor's executive orders come to pass, the elimination of ECS payments to the town of West Hartford would be devastating to our highly efficient and effective and diverse educational system and to our tax payers,” said West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor. “We cannot let this come to pass and therefore it is urgent that the state legislature pass a budget that is fair and will allow West Hartford along with our whole state to grow and prosper.”

By contrast Windsor, one of the Alliance Districts, was targeted for a $9 million cut in the June plan – a cut from $12 million last year to $3 million. Under the new executive order, it would get the same as last year: $12 million.

“While we are pleased that there is a recognition that Windsor's current Educational Cost Sharing funding should be maintained at the 2016-2017 level, we understand that the final budget may look different and that this would be disastrous for many districts,” said Windsor Superintendent Craig Cooke.

The governor also said the reductions in educational grants would enable the state to restore $40 million in funding to private nonprofit health and human service providers, such as those helping the mentally handicapped and the elderly.

Glastonbury, which stands to lose all its $6.7 million funding under Malloy’s new plan, is taking a wait-and-see approach.

“The Governor’s plan harms the majority of school districts in the state,” Superintendent Alan B. Bookman said. “We need a more rational decision that will have a more moderate and more gradual effect on schools. We need the state legislature to step up and pass a more appropriate budget.”

Wethersfield Superintendent of Schools Michael Emmett, whose district is facing a $9.3 million reduction in funding, called Malloy's plan “devastating,” as he’s expecting 3,600 students to start school on Aug. 31

"Obviously for us it’s a tremendous hit," Emmett said. "I hope it's an attempt to get both sides together and get a budget deal ironed out."

Avon Town Council Chairman Mark Zacchio said that, “It looks like we would see a fairly significant reduction [$731,456] and any reduction at this point is at best difficult.”

Bristol school board Chairman Chris Wilson said Bristol schools this summer cut several teaching jobs, scaled back elective classes at the high school and raised some class sizes, all based on getting less money from the city than administrators proposed. But as one of the state’s 30 Alliance District systems, Bristol has been expecting state aid would remain relatively steady.

If the General Assembly ultimately settles on a budget with reductions in Alliance District or special education grants, Bristol would have to cut further into its program, Wilson said Friday. Those two streams of aid provide about $8 million a year for the city’s schools.

Under Malloy’s new plan, Middletown’s $19.5 million in state school funding wouldn’t see any cuts. Superintendent Patricia Charles said the funding would be “welcome news” only a few weeks before the start of school.

“We had been looking at the potential for cutting additional staff members,” Charles said Friday. “It’s tricky because you have young children that have bonds with their teachers. You never want to cut teachers or increase class sizes if it can be avoided. We still are taking a wait-and-see approach with the budget, but this looks positive.”

Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said of the cuts proposed in education cost sharing grants in Malloy’s executive order: “It’s treacherous; it’s outrageous that you would cut that kind of money in one year from so many districts.

“The bottom line is it’s a travesty for those districts. Enfield cannot sustain a $20 million cut or Milford a $10 million cut. Wallingford and Wethersfield are cut too. These are not wealthy districts.”

“It may be a strategy on [Malloy’s] part to bring about a state budget. I’m hoping that may be what he’s thinking but frankly these cuts just cannot be sustained,” she said. “So my hope is that there is a state budget soon so this executive order is not put into effect.”

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story misidentified Rocky Hill Superintendent Mark Zito as the Newington Superintendent. Comments from Newington Superintendent William C. Collins were incorrectly attributed to Zito. The Courant did not speak to Zito for this story.

"Obviously for us it's a tremendous hit. I hope it's an attempt to get both sides together and get a budget deal ironed out."— Wethersfield Superintendent of Schools Michael Emmett